The Rift

Chapter Thirty-Six: Mad World

Greetings

Yes, it has been a while since we last spoke. I'm currently listening to a Sharon Van Etten album whilst drinking dat agua (good shit). Anyway, I'll get to the point. Let's face it, I'm a lazy piece of shit who cannot commit to anything (literally, you have no idea) and I hate to keep people waiting when they've been waiting almost one fucking year for a new chapter of something that was first started TWO YEARS AGO, so I decided "fuck it, Imma do this and see how it goes."

So while I continue to work on the rest of The Rift, here's one BRAND NEW CHAPTER that will hopefully have more new ones follow it soon.

Bye for now, PEACE

-Nick

(Jenni POV)

Snow in October?

I'm not exactly a weatherman or weather-woman for that matter, but even I know that's not normal.

I've lived in Pennsylvania almost my whole life and if I know one thing, it's that snowfall doesn't start until at least early December. It's only the middle of October now, so either our calendar is fucked up or the world's weather pattern is. Climate change, am I right?

But everyone else doesn't seem to care, they're just excited about the snowfall. The children are especially ecstatic, opening their mouths toward the gloomy afternoon sky and catching tiny snowflakes on their tongues. I give a slight smile while helping Ashley wash the laundry outside in the courtyard. I scrub clean the wet clothes in a small metal tub with the sleeves of my purple hoodie rolled up, not bothering to tie back my long brown hair.

Ashley, sitting in a chair across from me, has a pair of crutches set aside next to her. I'm glad she decided to help me with chores but she didn't necessarily have to. Her leg is still healing from about a week ago but I didn't want to have her pushing herself too hard.

Ashley tries to ignite conversation by looking around at the light snowfall and asking me, "Damn, can you believe we're getting snow this early?"

I chuckle and answer, "Not really."

"Nathaniel and the rest should be back soon", Ashley states, wringing out a soaking wet shirt.

I almost forgot about that. Peter mentioned it earlier and I told him what I think about all of this. They've been gone a little longer than I expected.

I can tell by Ashley's face that she's worried about Haley. She went out with the group to Haven but I mean she always volunteers for supply runs and such. Ashley, it seems like, is trying to hide her anxiousness by ducking her face behind her short red hair.

"You okay?", I ask Ashley, stopping myself in the middle of scrubbing a child's jacket.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just...", she pauses, "They should be back by now, and I know they're all badasses and they can handle themselves but I just have this feeling that something's gone wrong. If that's the case, it's probably Nathaniel's fault. I never trusted that guy."

"Me neither", I admit to Ashley. I always thought of Gustavo as a good leader. I mean, he got us this far, and he's a cool guy. Plus, he's a good friend of my dad's so I've grown to care about him.

She continues to vent, the sleeves of her dark-colored jacket beginning to slide down her arms as she aggressively scrubs an article of clothing over the tub, "And I still find it fucking strange how Gustavo just magically let Nathaniel take over as his 'second in command' or some stupid shit like that. I swear to god, if Haley's hurt because of his stupidity..."

"I'm sure everything's fine", I lie. Nothing good ever comes out of someone being away for a long time. I know that from experience.

I add, "Maybe it's good that they're taking longer to get back. It could mean that they're working things out with Haven, which is kinda unlikely because of all the things Nathaniel says they did but you never know."